Ultra Pool Care SquadLeisure Pools has been designing and manufacturing fiberglass pools for customers around the world for more than 20 years. During that time, the company has learned a thing or two about pools, one of the most interesting is, that while people love having a swimming pool, they don’t necessarily enjoy the work that comes with keeping the pool clean and healthy.
Leisure Pools was started as a family business in Australia in 2000 with the goal of building a better pool to provide health, happiness and enjoyment to families. Over 20-plus years, Leisure Pools has grown and expanded to become one of the largest manufacturers of Composite Armour™ swimming pools in the world. Leisure Pools worked with like-minded entrepreneurs who were on the dealer and installation side of the pool industry to create an independent network of locations where customers could get the pool of their dreams. Together, Leisure Pools and that network of dealers and installers worked to create a backyard oasis for tens of thousands of excited families. However, a disturbing trend started to emerge — pool owners often seemed frustrated that the pool of their dreams turned out to be more work than they anticipated.
When the company made follow-up calls to customers after their pool installation, they were surprised to hear some disappointment in their voices. The reality was many pool owners don’t know how to operate and care for their pools. Water balancing, pumps, skimmers, filters — it can be overwhelming for some pool owners.
Pool installers and builders are experts on the construction and plumbing side of the business, but when it comes to the handover to the new pool owner, some are more eager to move onto the next job than make sure the new owner is comfortable with the care and operation of the pool. New pool owners need to be educated about their pools. And it’s not just new pool owners who sometimes feel a bit underwater when it comes to pool care, existing pool owners want to be saved from the work and time suck that comes with pool ownership. People dream of having a pool, not having to clean a pool. Even pool automation, which many pool owners are opting for, doesn’t solve all the problems of pool care — you still have to test the water, adjust the chemicals, empty the skimmer baskets and much more.
That’s where pool care and service companies come in. There is a need for experts who can keep the pool running efficiently and keep the water blue and healthy. Pool owners are searching for a well-trained, trustworthy and reliable pool tech to allow in their backyard each week. But, that’s not available in many markets. Leisure Pools realized this gap in service availability was an incredible business opportunity.
The pool care business is a patchwork of hundreds of independent operators and a few larger companies trying to service the more than 15 million pools in the United States. The stereotype of the pool guy with the pole sticking out of the corroded bed of his pickup truck who shows up (maybe) wearing a chlorine-stained t-shirt, cut-offs and flip-flops is around for a reason. As people spend more time and money in their homes, they don’t want just some pool guy in their backyards. Professional, expert, background checked Pool Techs are the wave of the future.
So Leisure Pools created a franchised pool care model — The Ultra Pool Care Squad — to address those needs and crush those stereotypes. The franchise system provides pool care professionals with standard training, branding, marketing, business tools and support to help them focus on pool care. Customers can expect reliability, expert knowledge and consistency from their franchised pool care provider.
“That is the origin story of the Ultra Pool Care Squad,” Amy Lawhorne COO of Ultra Pool Care Squad franchising says. “We are using our 20-plus years of industry knowledge to revolutionize the pool care industry through franchising the Ultra Pool Care Squad. We are creating a group of Compassionate, Authentic, Reliable, Experts to CARE for pools and their people.”
The mission of the Ultra Pool Care Squad is to provide pool owners with the highest quality care for their swimming pools and spas. The company is working to change the image of the unreliable pool guy to an image of a pool tech who customers feel safe and comfortable with in their backyards. “We like to say we are the Ultraheroes of pool care,” Lawhorne adds. “We’re there to rescue pool owners from the hassles of pool care.”
The Ultra Pool Care Squad Franchise system provides a comprehensive 12-day training program, protected territories, professional branding, marketing support, a fully staffed call center, as well as business support and continuing guidance and help. When an Ultra Pool Care Squad Pool Tech arrives at a customer’s home, they are driving a clean, professionally branded and wrapped van. The Pool Tech is wearing a uniform and using the latest technology to test the water and get the balance right to provide a clean and healthy swimming pool for the customer.
“There is a confidence on both sides,” Lawhorne says. “Customers are happy to have a professional, reliable, expert take care of their pool, and the Ultra Pool Care Squad Franchisee is able to focus on pool and customer care because the Ultra Pool Care Squad Franchise System provides the support and structure they need to market and grow their routes.”
The pool care business is a billion-dollar industry that is growing every year. Franchised pool care businesses like the Ultra Pool Care Squad are perfectly poised to organize and professionalize the current fractured state of the industry. Now is the perfect time for anyone who has thought about starting their own route and becoming their own boss to look into a franchised model. Many current independent providers are also considering the switch to a franchised model like Ultra Pool Care Squad because of the branding, marketing, growth and business support available.
